Democracy's big test

California's GHG emission law is under challenge by ballot initiative, led by a posse of carbon-dependent corporate funders and Tea Party billionaires. What a rat's nest of misinformation and irrationality that campaign is likely to be!

The ordinary California voter, who may or may not know anything at all about climate science, must now choose between a basic cap-and-trade system, not unlike RGGI, Maine and New England's own system, or no emissions controls at all.

Choose? On the basis of what?

My work in basic climate education leaves me fairly clear-eyed about just how much and how good the climate knowledge is that a lot of folks have, and it's not very good at all. In general, I suspect, and my suspicion is supported out by some data I've seen, I think men are generally the least knowledgeable about climate change, and most likely to believe that they "know" somehow that it isn't happening or going to happen, and that the scientific consensus is somehow manufactured by left-liberal activists.

A very lazy kind of conclusion to jump to, and one that might support all your favorite pastimes if you drive a big truck or like a sport that makes heavy use of the internal combustion engine.

Meanwhile, in the Guardian, an assortment of environmental philosophers and futurists is reported, at least according to this opinion piece by Micah White, as seriously considering the attenuation of democracy because, well, they think people are too stupid, and that instead we need to be led by some junta of enviro-dictators.

I tend to think that this is another lazy conclusion to jump to, and a very slippery slide.

And boy, won't Limbaugh have a field day with this one.

But what if the Tea Party and the oil corporations had a nice voter drive and nobody came? I hope they spend an awful lot of money and lose their shirts.

I think this might just happen for two reasons. One is liberal, environmental, northern California, the original Ecotopia.

The other is Hollywood. Which of course has much more access to media than any evil Tea Party genius will ever have. And who knows, even the gubernator might get involved.

So, while Lovelock and Finnish philoso-nazis can hypothesize about the end of democracy, and while the Tea Party funders and oil and coal interests can actually fund it, a thousand cuts of misinformation and distortions, those of us in the cheap seats get to see the spectacle of a test case.

It's going to be an interesting fall.